A machine component, such as a fuel pump, has an operating life during which the component may provide satisfactory performance. Beyond the operating life, the component may fail or efficiency may reduce due to wear and tear and/or other factors. Currently used diagnosis techniques for predicting a failure of the component monitor an operating temperature of components connected in parallel to the said machine component, in order to predict failure of the machine component.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,566,091, hereinafter referred as the '091 patent, discloses a method for diagnosing degradation and predicting failure of similar machine components operated in parallel. The method includes providing a plurality of similar components with sensor means for producing signals indicative of a level of an operating parameter common to the components. The method includes periodically determining from the signals a difference between the operating parameter level of a first component and the operating parameter level of a second component to generate a differential value. The method also includes averaging one or more differential values over a predefined trend period to generate a corresponding trend value for that period. The method further includes generating a trend based on a plurality of trend values to provide an indication of component performance useful in diagnosing component health.
However, the method disclosed in the '091 patent may provide inaccurate or erroneous results during exceptional behavior characteristics of the machine component such as, for example, a sudden spike in the operating temperature, variation in ambient conditions of operation of the machine component, and so on.
Hence, there is a need for an improved system and method for determining health of the machine component prior to failure.